Bayside have released ‘Best Christmas Yet’, a holiday single about the pressure to get Christmas right and the people who make it worth celebrating.
Queens band Bayside have paired the new original with a surprise cover of a Christmas classic, for vocalist and guitarist Anthony Raneri, writing their own seasonal song meant addressing expectations that familiar festive favourites tend to leave out.
“We wrote ‘Best Christmas Yet’ to address what the holidays are really about to us, being with the people you love and who love you back,” explains Raneri.
“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves during the holidays to have a specific kind of time or for them to look and feel idealistic and most of the Christmas songs out there paint that unrealistic, idealistic picture. We thought there should be a song about what the holidays are really about.”
The title might suggest another promise of a perfect December, but Raneri’s explanation brings it back to something more manageable: spending time with people who care about you, without needing the occasion to meet an impossible standard.
Bayside ‘Best Christmas Yet’ lyric video
Bayside Bring Vinyl Rarities To Streaming
The Christmas release follows a series of EPs issued during the Northern Hemisphere summer, with each collection curated by a different band member. Raneri, guitarist Jack O’Shea, bassist Nick Ghanbarian and drummer Chris Guglielmo also designed the artwork for their respective selections.
Each EP included a B-side from 2011’s Killing Time that had previously been available only on vinyl, giving listeners a way to hear those recordings digitally for the first time.
Those releases revisited a catalogue stretching from 2004 debut Sirens And Condolences through The Walking Wounded, Cult and Interrobang to 2024’s There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive. Alongside their album work, Bayside teamed up with Ice Nine Kills vocalist Spencer Charnas for the 2023 single ‘How To Ruin Everything (Patience)’.
Bayside ‘How To Ruin Everything (Patience) ft. Ice Nine Kills
Their latest release adds an original Christmas song to that catalogue, with Raneri’s comments giving listeners a clear sense of what he wanted to say before they press play.
The band’s companion, very fun Christmas cover of Jingle Bells can be heard below:
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